At PrideChueca we believe the neighborhood is not only walked through: it is lived and told. That’s why we are opening this space for personal chronicles, where the voices of those who arrive, inhabit, or discover Chueca become shared stories. Today we welcome Grace Gala, who wanted to put into words what her arrival was like and what it meant to find this refuge of freedom.
Chueca: My Refuge of Freedom
There are places you don’t just visit, but feel—places that embrace you without asking who you are. Places where your reflection in a shop window doesn’t hurt, but smiles back. For me, that place has a name: Chueca.
Every time I walk through its streets, I feel the air breathing differently: freer, kinder, more human. Being a travesti girl in Chueca is a celebration. Every gesture, every glance, every greeting carries a complicity that makes me feel part of something beautiful: a community held together by love.
I can walk calmly, feel observed with curiosity but never with judgment, and enjoy the simple fact of existing just as I am.
I love starting the day on one of its terraces, having a slow breakfast while watching the joyful movement of people. On every corner there’s a cozy spot, a café that invites you to stay, a knowing smile. At midday, the restaurants fill with life, flavors, and conversations in a thousand languages, all carrying the same message: here, everyone is welcome.
And when night falls… everything transforms. The lights, the music, the glances. Chueca vibrates as if celebrating the diversity of life itself. It is a place created to feel and to enjoy in freedom, where the feminine, the beautiful, and the authentic embrace without fear.
When I leave, it always leaves me with a sense of peace. Because more than a neighborhood, Chueca is an attitude: to live without masks, with pride, tenderness, and truth.
In Chueca I don’t have to hide. I don’t have to explain myself. I just have to live.
And that, for me, is an immense gift.
📸 Photo: Grace at Serendipia